The Picante Pat

The Picante Pat

Stay spicy, my friends

The Story

The Picante Pat is interesting because it started its life relatively recently when compared to the other Shitbikes that had been completed to date. It had similar design goals as the Super Cissy, but came equipped with relatively modern standards.

This build began life as a 2004 Klein Q-Pro XV. I hear the gasp. “You stripped a Klein paint job and turned the build upside down? Boo, booooo this man!”

I’ve got some thoughts on the Klein pantheon that some folks may share, others may not. My opinion is that Gary Klein and his company made some incredible bikes, and pushed technology and the sport forward in many meaningful and impactful ways. Klein’s frames were also often beautiful, and smoothed welds and internal cable routing gave them a unique look that was ahead of their time. And then there were the paint jobs. Just about all of them were truly striking, and those paint jobs have always been an inspiration for SBC.

However, Kleins start to lose their luster for me after the Trek acquisition and towards the eventual wind-down of the Klein brand. The bikes were still cool (I owned two Palminos from this era), but it was clear that Trek was taking the brand in a different direction and to its eventual death. For these reasons, the fact that this was a rougher bike that had clearly done thousands of hard miles, and because this Klein/Trek didn’t have a super notable paint job, I was able to sleep at night knowing that it was getting a different future.

This bike, also like one of the Ketchum Krewzers, was a left behind orphan at a bike swap. Back in the mid oughts, this was a nice and very fast bike. It came with a mix of Dura-Ace and Ultegra components, aero bars, and carbon rear seat stays and fork. Some of those components would stay, but many were due for a swap.

Design Goals

The goal of this bike was almost identical to the Super Cissy. I wanted to give my dad a one of a kind bike to comfortably ride around town that was also capable of climbing the large and steep hill that they live on. In recent years he has taken to pickling the extra jalapeno peppers that grow in their garden, and this was the inspiration for the pepper theme.

The mechanical goals of this bike were relatively simple, since I could reuse most of the non-drivetrain components. In a nutshell, I wanted to put on the same wide range 1x drivetrain that went on the Supe Cissy, and convert the bike to a flat bar. For bonus points, I wanted to keep the bike on the lighter side of things.

The Problems

Paint Adhesion

This problem was 100% my fault, and I’m pretty sure that I know why. To achieve the lettering and logo effects on the Shitbikes, I create custom sticker masks using adhesive vinyl and a cutting machine. The vinyl is sticky, and if it adheres more strongly to the effect color than the effect color has adhered to the primer layer, you’ll be crestfallen when you start peeling off the sticker and it brings the effect color and maybe even the primer with it.

The solution to this is better preparation. I clearly did not do a good enough job of sanding the last primer coat before spraying the silver spectracoat effect color. Abrading the primer surface gives the effect color a better resurface to stick to.

I was able to touch up the areas where the effect color was lifted a little bit. It’s not immediately noticeable from 6 feet away, but as soon as you look closely it’s easy to tell that something didn’t quite go to plan. My options were to strip the entire frame back to bare metal and start from scratch, or touch it up the best I could and move on. I went with latter after reminding myself “Hey, this is Shitbike Cycles, not Painted By A Professional Who Knows What He’s Doing Cycles”.

Frame Clearance

When it was new, this bike was meant to go fast. It was light, nimble, stiff, and powerful. To achieve these results, you need to have an optimized frame with tight tolerances, including things like frame clearance for the tires. Like the Super Cissy, my naive hope was to put a wider tire on for stability and comfort. I learned quickly that on a frame like this, jumping from a 23c to a 25c tire is a wayyyy bigger difference than one might expect. A 25c tire was able to go in there with jusssssst enough room to spare for me not to be concerned about it rubbing. I was hoping for a 28, but that was definitely not gonna happen.

Internal Routing

I love and hate internal routing. I would argue that internal routing was one of the hallmarks of the Kleins of old, and is part of what gave them their futuristic look. All of my modern bikes are internally routed, and I’ve never had an issue. But internally routing this bike was a chore, especially the rear brake line that both enters and exits the top tube. A lot of deep breaths, many swears, and a magnet made it possible.

The Outcome

With the exception of the paint problems noted above, I was happy with how this Shitbike, SB4, turned out. I think that it strikes a really fun ballance of looking serious and ridiculous at the same time. The juxtaposition of a racy looking road frame with skinny tires and bladed spokes against a flat bar bike with a monster 50t cassette and a wacky paint job makes it easy to tell that this is a unique ride.

Rider feedback was also positive. After a little derailleur adjustment, the bike proved itself to be a capable bike path burner and town cruiser. A steeper stem or a steer tube extension could be used to bring the riding position a little more upright,but this is always something that could be added later. Despite the heavy Box Three Prime 9 drivetrain, the bike remained pretty dang light and responsive. I was also happy with the various Bontrager components that were used. I think the carbon bar really stands out as well. (It was pulled off of a Klein Palomino XX before I sold it.)

It was fun to do a build on a bike from this millennium, and I hope that the Picante Pat and its sister, the Super Cissy, carry my folks safely and reliably to the bar and back for many years to come. Cheers!